Mexico's Pemex to build oil response cap

HOUSTON, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- British energy company BP said it signed an agreement with Mexico's Pemex to share oil-spill response technology for work in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP, in response to the oil spill in 2010, maintains a deep-water well capping system that can operate in 10,000 feet of water. The company said it keeps the system on hand in Houston for global deployment.

BP said it signed a deal to share technical information with Pemex so it could build its own capping system for use in the Mexican waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

"Today's announcement builds on our commitment and the work we have done -- and continue to do -- to help advance global deep-water response capabilities around the world," Richard Morrison, BP's global deep-water response director, said in a statement.

Under the license agreement, BP shares the technology at no cost to Pemex.

In July, the U.S. Department of Interior tested a 100-ton capping system in the Gulf of Mexico with the non-profit Marine Well Containment Co. in a simulated well failure.

Sheen was discovered in U.S. waters last month that was found to be from a failed attempt to cap BP's well in 2010.

A spill by Pemex in 1979 was considered one of the largest in the world prior to BP's accident in the gulf.

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